1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to an axle beam type suspension arrangement for automotive vehicles. Particularly, the present invention relates to a three link suspension which eliminates lateral forces between road wheel and a road surface and which can minimize jack-up forces applied to vehicle wheels.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Suspension systems are commonly known which utilize a trailing arm portion to absorb vehicle motion forces in the forward direction of the vehicle, coil springs in combination with shock absorbers to absorb vertical forces and a lateral link (or panel load) to absorb lateral forces applied to the vehicle.
However, in such prior art suspension systems, since the lateral link is a single member connected laterally between a portion of the vehicle body and the axle beam, during bounding and rebounding of the vehicle wheels, a certain amount of displacement, called scuff variation, or tread variation, occurs between the vehicle body and the vehicle axle due to pulling resulting from the arc like travel of the lateral link.
To eliminate occurrence of scuff variation between the suspension and the vehicle body, Japanese Patent Application First Publication (unexamined) 2-254006 discloses a suspension system including an assist link associated with the lateral link for absorbing a lateral displacement variation amount .epsilon.. Further, Japanese Utility Model Application First Publication 53-30618 discloses a watt link type lateral link assembly for compensating for scuff between the suspension and the vehicle body.
In the above cited prior art systems, a three point support arrangement is utilized. That is the lateral link assembly is connected to a single point on the axle beam and to two points on the vehicle body. According to the above arrangement scuff variation between the vehicle body and the suspension are suitably compensated. However, during occurrence of vehicle rolling, such as during turning, with occurrence of wheel bounding and rebounding, the above arrangements, although eliminating scuff between the vehicle body and suspension, permit scuff to occur between the road wheels and the road surface causing jack-up force to be applied to the suspension. This undermines overall vehicle stability, particularly during cornering.